Tarot By Enchanting Erica

Not Just uwu

I love Japan! Hubs and I had such a wonderful time doing our weird nerdy and woo-woo stuff, we would love to go back.

Whenever we travel I try to look up metaphysical shops and attractions online. When I did this for our various locations in Japan – Tokyo, Kyoto, and Hiroshima – one of the top Google hits was a Reddit comment. The original poster asked what would be a good souvenir to pick up for a friend who was into exploring spirituality. One commenter got a lot of upvotes for their suggestion that Japanese people are far to sophisticated to actually believe in all that woo-woo stuff. This absolutely floored me because said commenter obviously had not been to Japan, or read anything about visiting whatsoever. So I’m here to tell you about my experiences.

First and foremost, there are shrines on practically every other block. And there are locals visiting and maintaining those shrines for other locals. The small neighborhood shrines are my favorite to visit, because they have a lot of heart, and not a lot of tourists. I felt really overwhelmed at the Fushimi Inari Shrine outside of Kyoto (devoted to fox spirits) because it was absolutely crawling with tourists (I know, I’m one too!). It’s very impressive, but I feel like it isn’t being appreciated properly.

One of the main Google hits you will get is for crystal shops. Unfortunately I have no pics of it, but while in Ginza we happened across a rather high end crystal shop (Ginza, Tokyo is the expensive shopping district). I believe it was that shop which also offered palm readings.

Furthermore, I ended up with a card haul while visiting Shosen Book Tower in Akihabara, Tokyo. That, plus a charm I picked up at the Benzai-Ten shrine were my woo-woo souvenirs

One Redditor suggested the original poster pick up a charm from one of the temples or shrines that sells them, as I did. And I think that was an excellent suggestion. Mine is for luck in artistic endeavors.

So if you’re in Japan, visit a nice neighborhood shrine, pay your proper respects, get yourself a nice charm, and enjoy some woo-woo with your uwu!